Sign up with

Forgot your Password?

Saint Ignatius High School Prefers Phoenix Wood Bats

This entry was posted on July 3, 2012 by Phoenix Bats.

Saint Ignatius High School in Northeast Ohio was the 1st high school in Ohio to transition to exclusively wood bats for its baseball team. Here is a testimonial from Coach Brad Ganor on how Phoenix Bats wood bats helped the team not only improve fundamentals but increase production. We think this sums it up pretty well..."Our hitters are better because of the wood bats."

"Saint Ignatius High School has been a leader in high school baseball for many years. We have always taken great pride in performing at an elite level in Ohio high school baseball. 2012 proved to be a monumental season as the baseball program at Saint Ignatius made the transition to wood bats.

Having sent 70+ players onto college baseball in my 14 years of coaching at Saint Ignatius, their candid feedback is very important to me. When the NCAA implemented the new BBCOR standard for college baseball in 2011, my former players were calling with feedback that was less than positive on how the “new” bats were performing. Fast forward to 2012 and NFHSB plans to implement BBCOR standards, I felt we needed to do something to improve our offensive production and counteract the BBCOR performance.

The process of “going wood” started last June and took time to convince our players that this was a plan that will help in the long run. After convincing our players this was going to be a fun and beneficial plan, we needed to find a company willing to work with our players and make this transition affordable. Phoenix Bat Co. out of Plain City, OH proved to be up to the task. Upon my first meeting with the company, I could not have been happier. Phoenix brought dozens of models for our kids to try and see what they were comfortable with. Each player was given one on one time with their sales rep. to ensure they had a full understanding of why they should or should not choose a specific model for their swing. In the end Phoenix Bats provided a package that not only provided superior quality, but also made the transition to wood extremely affordable.

As the 2012 season ended, 1 game shy of a 8th in 14 year OHSAA Final Four appearance, I look at our offense and see hitters that have much purer swings and players that are able to execute fundamental baseball consistently. As a skeptic tries to contend that using wood was not a good idea, I can’t disagree more…look at simple offensive stats. We outhit our opponents 207 to 147 and outscored them 148 to 86! Our hitters are better because of the wood bats. I truly believe college scouts can find out more about a player who uses wood. And, I think Saint Ignatius will continue to play at the highest level of baseball in the state of Ohio using wood bats and specifically, Phoenix Bats."